Continuing a Career of Service Through Local Government
Every year, thousands of service members transition from military service into civilian careers. While veterans leave the military with exceptional leadership experience, problem-solving abilities, and a commitment to public service, identifying where those skills fit in the civilian workforce can be challenging.
For participants in ICMA's Veterans Local Government Management Fellowship (VLGMF), the answer is found in local government.
The fellowship provides veterans with hands-on experience working alongside city and county leaders while exposing them to the complexity, collaboration, and community impact that define professional local government management.
For many fellows, the program quickly confirmed that local government is the right career path. As we celebrate National Hire a Veteran Day, ICMA is featuring three recent VLGMF alumni, Jake Adel, Jon Danchik, and Robert Phillipson, who share their experience with the program:
Jake Adel, U.S. Army, Captain, 7 years
VLGMF Fellowship Host: Richardson, Texas
What was your biggest takeaway from the fellowship?
My biggest takeaway was that local government is fundamentally a team effort. Residents may experience city services through a single department, but effective service delivery often depends on coordination across multiple departments, professional disciplines, and levels of leadership. The fellowship showed me how policy, budgeting, infrastructure, public communication, and daily operations must work together to produce meaningful outcomes for a community.
What skills that you brought from your military service were most applicable to a local government setting? Were there any skills that you were surprised you needed?
Many of the skills I developed in the Army translated directly to local government. Planning, briefing senior leaders, coordinating across organizations, managing competing priorities, and turning broad guidance into executable action were all highly applicable. I was also able to contribute through policy development and benchmark research. My primary projects included recommendations related to legislative affairs, environmental coordination, city asset naming, road project communications, and community feedback systems. The experience included extensive engagement with city staff and external stakeholders, as well as visits to municipal facilities, giving me a comprehensive view of both governance and frontline service delivery.
What knowledge/skills did you feel you were missing or for which you needed more training?
One skill I did not fully appreciate before the fellowship was the importance of public communication. In the military, leaders frequently communicate within an organization that shares common terminology, structures, and objectives. Local governments must communicate complex projects and decisions clearly to residents, businesses, elected officials, and other stakeholders, each of whom may have different concerns and levels of technical understanding.
I also recognized areas in which I needed additional development. Municipal budgeting, procurement, land-use planning, public engagement, and the legal framework governing cities all require specialized knowledge. The fellowship did not make me an expert in every municipal function, but it helped me understand how those functions connect and gave me a clear roadmap for continued professional growth.
What did you enjoy the most from your fellowship?
What I enjoyed most was the accessibility of Richardson’s leadership and staff. Department directors and frontline employees took the time to explain not only what they did, but also why it mattered. Visiting facilities and observing operations reinforced that local government is ultimately about serving people and improving their quality of life.
What advice would you give other service members who are interested in transitioning into local government?
My advice to transitioning service members is to approach the fellowship with humility, curiosity, and initiative. Military experience provides a strong foundation, but local government has its own professional culture and technical requirements. Ask questions, build relationships, visit operational sites, and volunteer for substantive projects. The ICMA Fellowship provides an exceptional opportunity to translate military leadership into public service while discovering where your experience can create the greatest value for a community.
Jon Danchik , U.S. Army, Captain, over 7 years
VLGMF Fellowship Host: Castle Rock, Colorado
What was your biggest takeaway from the fellowship?
The fellowship quickly helped confirm that I was making the right choice in exploring local government as a post-military career. Looking back on my time in service, it was shocking to realize how many times I had moved or been called away from home on short notice. After a while, I hardly knew my neighbors, and was rarely in one place long enough to see the long-term effects of my work. Over the course of my fellowship, I came to appreciate the stability, consistency, and connection to a community that municipal work offered.
What skills that you brought from your military service were most applicable to a local government setting? Were there any skills that you were surprised you needed?
It was easier than expected shifting from one policy-constrained environment to another. Working within the confines of Army regulations made for an easy transition into municipal code, ordinances, and various state laws.
What knowledge/skills did you feel you were missing or for which you needed more training?
Going from an organization where everyone’s rank/title and name are literally sewn on their uniforms to an organization where calling someone by their first name is the norm took some considerable adjustment for me. While that doesn’t necessarily equate to a need for more training, it took a while to get used to calling supervisors by their first names and getting comfortable within an authority structure that is less stratified and regimented.
What did you enjoy the most from your fellowship?
The town that hosted me for my fellowship sent me to the ICMA conference in Tampa. While I was there, I spent a week with a diverse group of municipal managers going to talks, breakout sessions, and social events. The other attendees were all incredibly welcoming, and readily shared knowledge and career advice with me. I left Tampa with much greater insight into the profession as a result.
What advice would you give other service members who are interested in transitioning into local government?
No matter how long you’ve been in service, you should spend some time re-examining how you apply for jobs. Career advice has a shelf-life, and the proliferation of AI has added additional layers of complexity to a process that can already be highly subjective. It is absolutely worth your time to learn about current hiring practices.
Robert Phillipson, U.S. Army, Lieutenant Colonel, 34 years
VLGMF Fellowship Host: Newport News, Virginia
What was your biggest takeaway from the fellowship?
When employers get to know you, they may find positions for you based on their perception of your skillset as opposed to what value you think you might add. This opens more doors than you can imagine.
What skills that you brought from your military service were most applicable to a local government setting? Were there any skills that you were surprised you needed?
In the military, you must have good interpersonal skills and discipline. Both of these are not universal in any governmental setting. Just like the military, government jobs are a similar intersection of talent, apathy, energy, leadership challenges, and so forth. Currently, my biggest struggle is communication. In the military, we are taught to be honest, direct, and to make recommendations. We needed this talent as the pace of change in the military is a constant as opposed to broader government. I still am taken back by comments like "we tried that in 2008 but...." Having patience in the way you describe gaining momentum, not getting anchored in past failure or past relationships with other departments because...are very difficult when you just want the organization to soar.
What knowledge/skills did you feel you were missing or for which you needed more training?
We do a very poor job of credentialing in the military. Right now, the automated resume filters bypass resumes that lack the specific credentials you might need. Take the time to get certified in whatever field you think you might want to get into. As an example, I have planned numerous complex combat operations so I thought I could be a fit for the city planning office. There is an independent field of study with credentialling for city planning.
What did you enjoy the most from your fellowship?
The opportunity to try something out of my normal career path without assuming much risk.
What advice would you give other service members who are interested in transitioning into local government?
When you transition from the military, you will find many similarities between your federal service and service in local government. These include the good, with the bad. I am sure we all accept that this is the case wherever you choose to work. The complexity of things is also very similar, just with different variables. For example, you may have been asked to develop a plan to get your unit out to the National Training Center. At the city level, you might be asked to perform a cost analysis to examine if fleet ownership is a better or worse option than using rental vehicles. Both of these are complex and nuanced. Both of these tasks require you to have established relationships with people in the know and work as a team to determine the best way forward. Local government work is just another type of service. The difference with local government is that you get to help the people in YOUR community. You get to make a visible contribution to their quality of life. The value of that is hard to overstate, especially after a prolonged period of federal service where this is less visible.
National Hire a Veteran Day is an opportunity for local governments to recognize the value that veterans bring to public service. The Veterans Local Government Management Fellowship demonstrates what is possible when local governments provide veterans with the opportunity to apply their leadership and management skills to help improve the quality of life of communities through local government public service.
Publish with ICMA!
We’re searching for interesting and insightful stories that can help others learn a memorable takeaway to serve their communities better.
